ex machina

"But by the time the device hits the market later this year, it will be competing against other miniature-sized computers such as beefed-up personal digital assistants. Unless OQO heavily markets the computer, consumers may mistake it for a very expensive Palm handheld, Elsasser said."

while i think the point is valid, i do think that thanks to the ability to store 10 gigs in your pocket, there is an emerging demand for a variety of devices that sit between pdas and laptops, as the popularity of
ipod hacking
demonstrates.

given its built in networking capabilities and already reasonable pricepoint, it's intriguing to think of what could happen by taking away the
m$
, which looks
plausible:

"And that's not all. LinuxDevices.com learned from an undisclosed source that OQO is also developing a low-powered FM radio transmitter that will allow users of the device to wirelessly broadcast music from MP3s stored on its hard disk to their home or car stereos.

What about Linux support for the device? "We're primarily a hardware company," says Hunter. "What we've developed is a fully compatible PC, that will run whatever OS would run on a PC, so yeah, Linux should run just fine -- I'm sure it'll happen," he adds."

hmmm. what could you do a cheap portable device that streams mp3s, runs linux and knows 802.11b? well, install
sputnik
with
mesh networking
and turn your portable broadcast unit into a node in a
mobile mesh network
.

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“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”

if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.